1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transformable toy which is reversibly transformed between two configurations, from a first configuration such as a vehicle or an animal to a second configuration, or vice versa, and more particularly to a transformable toy which can be automatically transformed by using an elastic force of an elastic member.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when a transformable toy is transformed during play, it has been required that each constituent part be manually operated and operating procedures have been complicated. Therefore, a transformable toy which can be transformed by a simple operation has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 9-10442). In this transformable toy, a first configuration is a vehicle configuration, a second configuration is a robot configuration, and a rear member is provided with a sliding member in a forwardly and backwardly slidable manner, the sliding member being formed with a rack, being partly exposed above the rear member, and having an operating element mounted thereon. When the sliding member is slid forwardly by operation of the operating element, the rack formed on the sliding member slides forwardly. A gear formed at an end portion of one of two connecting links is in mesh with the rack, and the connecting links pivot about respective pivoting shafts and are thus folded. A front member is pivotably connected to the other of the connecting links, and since the front member is foldably connected to the rear member, the front member is folded with respect to the rear member, and the front member and the rear member constitute a trunk portion in the robot configuration, the trunk portion being part of a second configuration.
In the above-described transformable toy, the sliding member is formed with a rack, one of the connecting links is provided with a gear meshing with the rack, and the connecting links are driven by a sliding operation of the sliding member. Accordingly, the above-described transformable toy inevitably requires a gear, which has not been present in conventional transformable toys, and has problems that a gear is exposed and deteriorates the appearance of the toy and that manufacturing and assembly costs increase as the number of transforming regions increases, because the number of gears to be meshed also increases.